Russia’s Vladimir Putin could accept 100,000 North Korean troops to augment fighting forces in Ukraine, Russian state TV reports according to the New York Post.
Prominent Russian defense expert and state TV host Igor Korotchenko told viewers that North Korea offered “volunteers” to “come and take part in the conflict,” according to New York Post. “If North Korea expresses a desire to meet its international duty to fight against Ukrainian fascism, we should let them,” Korotchenko said. The television pundit praised North Korea’s “rich experience in conducting counter-battery warfare,” the New York Post reported.
North Korea’s alleged offer follows recent reports of heavy Russian losses in the war on Ukraine, according to Reuters. Russia is “growing desperate after losing “tens of thousands of soldiers” and is now using outdated Soviet-era weaponry, U.K. Ministry of Defense stated. More than 75,000 Russians have been killed or injured in Russia’s war on Ukraine, and over 80% of their land forces are “bogged down,” Democratic Representative Elissa Slotkin of Michigan told CNN. Russia is “running out of steam,” suggested British Secret Intelligence Service Chief Richard Moore late last month.
In exchange for North Korea’s troops, Russia has offered grain and energy, the Daily Mail reported. Additional forces would likely be deployed to the separatist eastern republics of Luhansk and Donetsk to bolster Russian forces in the region, the outlet continued. North Korea’s Kim Jong Un joined Russia in recognizing the Russia-backed breakaway states as independent countries, according to the LA Times.
